[Terrapreta] sewage sludge charcoal

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

Try googling "using sewage sludge fertilizer"

Farmers are becoming very leery of using sewage sludge.  You can  
easily find hundreds of articles and many organizations questioning  
the safety and proving the existence of toxins in sewage sludge.

Just for one example, try this article about a farmer who lost  
hundreds of cows to the toxins in sewage sludge.  He has successfully  
sued USDA.  "Questions Raised About Using Sewage as Fertilizer"

"In one case, according to test results provided to the AP, the level  
of thallium — an element once used as rat poison — found in the milk  
was 120 times the concentration allowed in drinking water by the  
Environmental Protection Agency.

Judge Alaimo ordered the government to compensate dairy farmer Andy  
McElmurray because 1,730 acres he wanted to plant in corn and cotton  
to feed his herd was poisoned. The sludge contained levels of  
arsenic, toxic heavy metals, and PCBs two to 2,500 times federal  
health standards.

By Associated Press,  March 7, 2008    http://www2.nysun.com/article/ 
72525


Here's an article from University of Georgia researchers who  
determined that 2 people died from the spreading of sewage sludge:

http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-2/University-of-Georgia- 
researchers-link-increased-risk-of-illness-to-sewage-sludge-used-as- 
fertilizer-7106-1/



Unfortunately, as you will find on the web, these are not isolated  
examples.  They are only the tip of the iceberg.

Personally, I won't touch this 'free fertilizer', even though I would  
get paid to take it.



Gerrit





On 9-Apr-08, at 11:11 AM, Michael Bailes wrote:

> Well google gives me several pages of regulations about 'shitting  
> on ships' but little else.
>
> Why would industrial contaminants and waste be allowed in the  
> sewage system?
> m
>
> On 10/04/2008, Gerald Van Koeverden <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca> wrote:
> Lou,
>
> I know it seems unbelievable.  I didn't understand it until we had  
> a discussion about taking sewage from the local municipality and  
> spreading it on our land.  Cities have two only two types of  
> sewers: storm (rainwater) and sanitation (i.e. 'sewage' waste -  
> both home and factory).    Based on the amount of toxic chemicals,  
> officials try to guage how much you can put on your land without  
> poisoning the land too much that would make the crops too poisonous  
> to eat...
>
> Gerrit
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